Good morning, traders…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how traders grow — not just their skills, but their confidence.

It usually doesn’t happen all at once. It builds over time, piece by piece, through repetition and small wins. 

But every now and then, there’s a seismic shift. Something crucial clicks. And then it hits you: there’s actually a method to all this.

It’s not luck. It’s not just one strategy. It’s overall structure. 

And that’s exactly why I’ve been so focused on building something that gives you more than just a trade alert — but rather, an entire framework to build upon. 

That’s where top-down trading comes in.

It’s about understanding that what you’re learning isn’t random or disconnected. It’s part of a larger plan we’ve been building quietly in the background — and now it’s time to show you how it all fits together.

I’ve launched a brand-new teaching service that I’m super excited about, but before we get to that…

I want to take a step back and explain what the plan looks like from 30,000 feet — and how my new tool brings it all together.

Why I Teach “Top-Down Trading”

Our team has always been made up of educators first — people who don’t just trade, but actually take the time to explain why we trade the way we do. 

And if there’s one principle that runs through everything we teach, it’s this:

We are top-down traders.

That means we never start with a stock and try to work backward. We start at the top, with the broadest view, and narrow things down from there. 

Here’s how it works:

• The overall market – We begin by looking at the S&P 500. It’s the heartbeat of the market, and it gives us a read on overall sentiment. Is there risk appetite right now or risk aversion? Are buyers stepping in, or are institutions pulling back? If the market’s pulling the brakes, it’s not the time to press the gas.
  
• The sector – Once we’ve got a read on the market, we move to the sectors. Is tech leading? Are industrials showing strength? Maybe healthcare is lighting up while energy fades. Smart Money tends to rotate between sectors, and following that flow gives us a major edge in spotting real opportunity.
  
• The individual stock – Only after the market and sector line up do we look at the actual names. That’s where our favorite chart patterns come into play — breakouts and pullbacks that have the potential to move with strength, not just because the chart looks good, but because the bigger picture supports it.

This approach keeps you from trading in a vacuum. You could find the cleanest technical setup in the world, but if the broader market is selling off hard, there’s a good chance that trade’s going nowhere fast. 

Top-down trading helps you filter out those traps — and gives you a system for stacking the odds in your favor.

From Theory to Action: The 5-Part Plan

Over the years, I’ve created several teaching services — Omen, Earnings Edge, and now, Predictive Profits. 

But these services were never meant to stand alone. They’re part of a five-part plan designed to build you from a clueless beginner into a confident, consistent options trader.

Here’s the breakdown:

Parts 1 & 2: Your Foundation

• Learn what options are (and how they work).
  
• Understand market movement, sentiment, and structure.

Parts 3, 4, and 5: Your Strategy

• OMEN = Smart Money and unusual options flow (market money).
  
• Earnings Edge = Earnings-based trading opportunities (market moment).
  
• Predictive Profits = Probabilistic setups at key consolidation zones (market math).

Each service provides a unique way to find and trade actionable opportunities, but only after you’ve got the base knowledge to make sense of them.

Predictive Profits: The Final Piece of the Puzzle

So what’s Predictive Profits all about?

It’s built around a simple but powerful idea: there are specific moments on the chart when the odds are tilted in your favor. 

These come from a combination of:

• Historical behavior – Patterns that tend to break big after consolidation.
  
• Options pricing – Low-cost contracts.
  
• Volume psychology – Price battling at key risk zones where a breakout leads to big moves.

We don’t try to guess the future. We just set ourselves up in moments where the math says the reward is worth the risk.

This strategy often wins less than it loses … but it still makes money. Why? Because the winners are big, and the losses are tiny. It’s the opposite of what most losing traders do (cutting winners, letting losers run). 

Predictive Profits is about changing that. It’s about learning to let go of needing to win every time — and instead focus on what matters: profitable outcomes over time.

The goal is to help you see the bigger plan and understand how everything you’re learning fits together. There’s a method. There’s a reason. 

In Predictive Profits, you’ll learn:

• The full top-down trading program
  
• How each of the five parts work together
  
• What setups to focus on based on where you’re at now

And there’s a final step. Click here if you’re ready to take it. 

I hope this helped you see the big picture — and gave you a clearer sense of how far you’ve come (and where you’re headed).

Happy trading,

Ben Sturgill

*Past performance does not indicate future results